I Love The 1990s Cardinals Part 48 - Rick Sutcliffe

A few weeks back I did a post on Tom Henke pitching his final season in a Cardinals uniform.  That was a great short term signing of a veteran player for the team.  There were a few others during the 1990s that did not work out quite as well.  Mainly, I suspect that some of these players were really on the Cardinals because they agreed to play for next to nothing.

If August Busch III is reading, you are welcome to correct that assumption in the comments.  

Just to state for the 40th time since I started writing this thread of 1990s posts, the Cardinals went cheap after August II, Gussie, died and his son took over the team.  Rick Sutcliffe had won 10 games with the Baltimore Orioles in 1993, but his ERA was 5.75.  Maybe that's not horrible pitching in Camden Yards during the steroid era, but he was clearly not the guy who led the National League in wins during the 1987, the Rookie of the Year in 1979, and the Cy Young in 1984. 

Most important reason for Rick Sutcliffe making an appearance on the 1994 Cardinals?  His salary was $250,000.  That was not the Major League minimum in 1994, but the players near him in terms of salary on the Cardinals included Vincente Palacios, John Habyan, Rheal Cormier, and Mike Perez.  Not the pricy part of the payroll.  

The 1994 season was Sutcliffe's last as a Major Leaguer.  He had two long stints on the disabled list, which limited him to just 16 starts in what amounted to half a season's games.  He actually ended up with a winning record, 6-4, in spite of the fact that his ERA ended at 6.52.  Sutcliffe had several games which did a lot to jump his ERA up, probably a little inflated.  

On to baseball cards.  I will do four cards for Sutcliffe, two from 1994 and two from 1995.  A few bonus cards at the end.  

Sutcliffe was always a mullet type of guy and this card shows off that hair.  He actually had some shorter hair at some point with the Cardinals.  I also like the sunglasses.  I know those were probably really cool in 1994.   I am not a glasses type of person, never worn them, and I don't do sunglasses either.  This pair actually remind me of Kenny Powers.  I guess you throw in the mullet......

makes me want to check to see if Rick Sutcliffe has ever taught P.E. class in North Carolina.  I like the Stadium Club cards, always nice photography.  I like the picture on the card, but I always thought the label maker bottom is little bit odd.  Wasn't there a Simpsons episode out around this time where Bart gets a label maker from his aunts for this birthday?  

and there you have it.  This was during Season 3, which aired in 1992.  Someone at Topps watched this episode and then designed this Stadium Club set.  

Next card.  

This is the short haired version of Rick Sutcliffe.  Not clearly as cool as the mullet.  This is much more along the lines of Rick Sutcliffe the guy who works on Sunday Night Baseball.  Throw a shirt, tie, and sport coat on him....

This card is from the 1994 Score Traded/Rookie set.  Everyone remembers these cards for the ARod rookie.  Always kind of liked the red borders with the Cardinals cards, but it stinks that the team did not have many cards in the set.  I think the best Cardinals card is either this Sutcliffe or John Mabry.  Slightly depressing.  

That was really it for his 1994 cards with the Cardinals.  He also had a few with the Orioles, but overall Sutcliffe just did not have many cards that year.  You can only imagine, given the season he had in 1994, that the selection of 1995 was even more sparse.  Sutcliffe had two different cards the year after he retired.  

First up.  

A Collector's Choice card.  Upper Deck always had nice photography on their cards.  Nice shot of Sutcliffe signing autographs.  Not sure what else is going on here.  

Next.  

Another Score card.  Nice enough picture and a decent card to go out with.  

One thing that is slightly disappointing about Sutcliffe's 1995 card selection is the fact that he does not have a Topps card.  I know that in 1994 Topps gave him a card with the Orioles......

which is understandable since he played the 1993 season with them.  Given the longevity of Sutcliffe's career, the fact that he won several major awards, it would have been nice if Topps had given him some sort of send off for the end of his career.  For what it is worth, they did end up giving Sutcliffe a few cards in the mid 2000s, which are pretty nice.  

and they thankfully avoid his time with the Cardinals.  The retirement years Sutcliffe cards only had a two year run, since there has not been a single card made of the former pitcher.  

2018 Durham Bulls Team Set Part 2

Part 1 of the Durham Bulls team set for 2018 can be found here.  Here's the second half of the set....

Feels like there were a whole bunch of former Mariners players on this year's squad.  Andrew Moore was one of them.  He spent some time up with the Mariners last year, but was not very good with them.  He did pitch really well with Tacoma though and they are in a really hard part of the Pacific Coast League for pitchers.  Pitched decently with the Bulls this year.  I think there is some hope with him.  

Russell is a North Carolina native and a graduate of the light blue ACC school.  Seems like 

Russell is a North Carolina native and a graduate of the light blue ACC school.  Seems like a solid defender, but I am not sure he is ever going to hit in professional baseball.  The Rays have a ton of versatile infielder types too.  Maybe somewhere else.  

Schultz went to High Point University which is not far from Durham.  He misses a lot of bats, but he has been in the Minors for a long time, a few in Durham.  Not sure why a guy with as many strikeouts as Schultz keeps ending up in the Minors.  The Rays used him as a relief pitcher this year, started last season, still misses a lot of bats.  

Forrest Snow is another former Mariner.  He's 29 and in Triple A.  Solid starter this year in Triple A, but I am not sure what sort of future he has in the Majors. 

Velazquez spent a chunk of the year in Durham.  Seems like a solid player, in that mix of really versatile infielders that the Rays have on their 40 man roster.  Velazquez ended up in the Majors for awhile the Rays.  Definitely a future in the Majors.  

Snyder has been around for awhile.  Good older player to have around.  He has been in the Majors a few times and has been a very good player in Triple A.  Seems like a good guy.  

Justin Williams ended the season with the Cardinals Triple A team after being traded away for Tommy Pham.  He actually won a Triple A National Championship ring after the Memphis Redbirds defeated the Bulls.  It was the third time the two teams have played in the Triple A National Championship Game.  The Bulls had won the last two.  

Did I mention there were a lot of former Mariners players on the Bulls this year?  Meet Ryan Weber.  

Hunter wood became one of the "Openers" for the Rays.  Good pitcher.  Does not make all of those prospect lists, but seems to have a Major League arm and a good idea of what he is trying to do.  I very much enjoy watching him pitch.  He has a few other cards out there, might pick up a few of them this offseason.  

Kean is Kolten's brother.  Similar player, but the Rays have a ton of middle infielders and Kean is not better than most of them.  I think he's trade bait.  Definitely a Major League player, just not in Tampa.  

Rick Knapp has been around a long time as a coach.  Read the biography on the back of the card.  Sandberg has been the Bulls' manager for a few years now, really grown as a manager.  He's only 40, so he should get a shot at coaching or managing at that level at some point.  

Dement is a career Minor League guy.  Played for awhile, has coached for awhile.  There are tons of coaches like this, invaluable to the organization for the sake of consistency.  

Ben Johnson was actually a Cardinals draft pick, even has some Bowman autographs in a Cardinals uniform, as well as a long time Padres farm hand.  I am not sure how long he has been coaching, but he seemed to do a good job this year.  

Last card.  Best card?  

Everyone loves the Bull.  

Infamous With The Leather

When I first moved to central North Carolina more than ten years ago, the baseball star of the moment in these parts was Delmon Young.  He had been the first overall pick in the 2003 draft and had made his way all to the Triple A Durham Bulls by the time he was a 19 year old.  He hit .322 in A Ball, .336 in Double A, and .285 in his first stint in Triple A.  Sure, the Triple A numbers were a bit of a step back, but he was 19.

His star faded a bit.....

but eventually he made it to the Majors and played ten years for the Rays, Twins, Tigers, Phillies, and Orioles.  Delmon was probably best known was his clutch hitting in the Postseason.  He played in playoff games in all his Major League stops minus the Phillies, still appeared in the Postseason that season though.  

Delmon won an American League Championship Series MVP and had several other October performances that were spectacular.  

It's a loaded statement. I know there are a lot of people who do not really like Delmon.  Ready for it...

There were many things that Delmon Young did not do well.  

The most notable was his inability to field.  I said most notable.  

I would like to share some of the results from a Google search of the words "Delmon Young fielding"    

There is video of this too.  I like this still shot, but the play is as bad as you can imagine.  

Didn't catch it.  

Still hurts my brain to think that Delmon was ever on a National League team.  He led all Phillies outfielders in errors, and was in the top five regular players in that stat the year he played there.  Delmon played 64 games as a Phillie.  

The ball is not even in the picture here, but Delmon clearly was hoping the ball would be hit elsewhere.  

Which brings me to my latest Delmon Young card.  I found one of those cards that would have been a small fortune back at the height of his uber prospect status.  Since Delmon is not even playing at the moment, he's still just 34, this card was considerably less expensive.  

From the later years of the Upper Deck Sweet Spot sets when they used materials other than baseballs for their signing surface.  The 2007 set used the traditional ball cards, which faded terribly, these leather cards, and a lumber/bat card.  I cannot remember if the signers had cards made out of all three materials, or if it was just selected materials.  I kind of lean towards players only appearing in parts of the autograph sets.  

Making a card with any sort of illusion that Delmon did anything with a glove during his career is probably a bit far for some of us who took the time to watch him play a few games.  Perhaps the background material on his autographed cards for Sweet Spot could have been a little bit better.  

The main attraction to this card is the fact that is serial numbered to just 10 cards.  I am not sure how much this might have cost back in 2007, but I probably would have just shrugged and moved on with my day if I had seen this on EBay.  As someone who just dabbles in collecting Delmon Young cards, mainly because he was a really good Durham Bulls prospect, this feels like an exceptional find.  

Back of the card....

is the usual standard Upper Deck back.  I like the Devil Rays markings on the cards.  Both here on the back and the front with Delmon's hat and jersey.  Overall, a really hard card to find at a great price of one of the more hyped players I have ever seen roll through Durham,  Even if they do not "make it", they are still fun to collect. 

Just 87 Patterns Short

The original 1998 Topps Tek was 90 cards, 90 patterns of each card, with just a mere 8100 cards.  Has anyone actually put together a full set?  There are more than a few people who have just a basic set of 90 cards and plenty of people who have found the 90 patterns of their favorite player in the set.  These are the numbers, figures, and facts that most collectors use to summarize the set.

It's actually a much tougher climb.

Topps also included a diffractor parallel.  The diffractor parallels were roughly three per box.  That means you can take all the numbers that are thrown around all the time with the Topps Tek set and double them.

So, for my favorite player in the set, former Cardinals outfielder Ray Lankford, there are 90 cards with a diffractor pattern of each.  That's 180 Ray Lankford cards.

I recently actually found a copy of a Ray Lankford diffractor card.  They sell for more than a few dollars, so it was somewhat of a decision.........

after all, as nice as these cards look, as much as it would be a cool story to say that I have put together all of these cards, it's somewhat an exercise in futility.  

It's a pipe dream, but I am now just 87 patterns short of having all the Ray Lankford diffractor cards.  

2018 Durham Bulls Team Set Part 1

There are thirty cards in this year's Durham Bulls team set, I am doing fifteen cards in today's post, another fifteen at some point over the weekend.  I scanned the cards in pairs, minus the fifteenth, which I will use to give a little better look at the design.....

Pretty solid design.  I like the use of team color's in the banner and name bar, but I also like that the borders of the card are white.  Feels like it has been awhile since the Bulls have had a set with a white border, I am sure I am forgetting something that happened recently.  

A little busy for my tastes, but at least it is a black and white design.  Color would be complete overload here.  You've got player name and position in the banner, biography box, vitals with the card number squeezed in on the side, three years of stats, and all the Bulls/MiLB legal/copyright stuff.  Let's a lot of stuff in a small space.

Oh, Adam Moore is a catcher.  Seems like a decent Triple A organizational depth kind of player.

Meet half of the team.

My favorite combination of players in this set.  Banda has been a favorite this year since coming over from the Diamondbacks in the Steven Souza trade and Adames has been in Durham for awhile now.  

I am guessing Adames is up for good and will likely never return to Durham outside of an injury rehab.  Banda had Tommy John, so he will definitely be back through town at some point next year.  Hard to believe the Rays are going to let a talented hard throwing left handed starter linger in Triple A too long though.  

Both of these guys were in the Majors for long runs this year.  Castillo is a nasty relief pitcher.  Just unfair.  Bauers was not as good as I thought he was going to be in the Majors, but he is still just 22.  He had some great moments at the dish this year.  

I would say both Bauers and Castillo are up for good in Tampa, but maybe Bauers gets sent back down with a slow start next year.  Could also see him getting moved to the outfield, there are other first baseman on the way.  

Coats and Field are both veteran players.  Field ended the year in the Twins system.  Coats played the whole year in Durham, but I had seen him a few times prior.....

with the White Sox Triple A team in Charlotte.  Coats has some decent upside for a guy in his late 20s.  I actually have a bunch of Field cards in old posts from when he was in college.  He was one of the first USA Baseball people I collected.  

Hazelbaker has been everywhere.  Once a Cardinal, played well with them.  Gibaut is a little under the radar.  He is a big guy who throws hard, made the Triple A All-Star game this year.  

He's a college guy, so he's already 25, but just a really good player.  I think he is up with the Rays next year and is a useful reliever for a long time.  

I had seen Micah Johnson a bunch of times with Charlotte.  Learned a lot about him this year, interesting guy off the field.  Really into art and has had his own shows.  Nice stuff if you follow him on social media.  Hu was on the Bulls last year.  

Mainly a control pitcher.  He has had some good moments with the Rays.  Kind of reminds me a lot of Matt Andriese for whatever reason.  

Two relief pitchers who have been up and down between Tampa and Durham.  

I like Kolarek better.  Lefty reliever with a funky motion.  All need pitchers like that.  

We are at the end.  My second favorite pairing.  McCarthy is a UVA grad.  I saw him a few years back at the ACC Baseball Tournament.  Nice player, not sure how he is going to fair in the Majors, but he played a great few games in the International League Championship.   All of the games were on the road in Scranton because of Hurricane Florence.  McCarthy is from Scranton.  

He is getting a Dundie for best player in a Triple A playoff series.  

Best Dundies ever.  

Lowe caught fire last year between A Ball and Double A and just kept hitting this year.  His line in Durham was pretty unreal and he ended up getting promoted up to Tampa.  He played in roughly 40-50 games with the Rays, played well, should keep an eye on him next year.  Extra base machine.